Pastor Len's vision has been to plant a church-planting church that would reach people who do not know God with the good news of Jesus Christ and enfold them into a loving community of faith. His passion is to help the church become a safe place where people of all ages can explore the claims of the gospel without fear or judgment.

Len has a relational style and his primary gifts are teaching, leadership, administration, and evangelism. He loves the Sherwood community and is a member of the Sherwood YMCA Board, participates in the Chamber of Commerce, and meets regularly with the other Sherwood pastors for mutual support and ministry together. Len is also active in the Presbytery's New Church Development Team, helping start other new churches in the area.

Len was raised in Pasadena, California and was an agnostic before becoming a follower of Christ as a freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied computer science. He then worked as a software developer for Oracle Corporation in the Silicon Valley before sensing God’s call to full-time ministry and leaving to attend Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA.

Len and his wife Amy were married in 1996 and have three sons: Benjamin, Samuel, and Joshua. They met in college when they went on a summer missions trip together with the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley. Amy is currently a stay-at-home Mom who homeschools the boys and is active in the children’s ministry and prayer ministry. Previously, Amy was a middle school teacher.

Len enjoys reading, anything Macintosh, playing piano and guitar, basketball, and running slowly. He can be reached by email or at 503-925-8175.

Angela Mansfield grew up at the beach in North County San Diego, where she began attending church as a high school student. She went to Los Angeles for undergrad at Occidental College as a Psychology major, Religious Studies minor. Through the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Occidental, Angela began to study the Bible and experienced the depth of Christian community. After college, Angela worked for 4 years as a 401(k) Education & Enrollment Specialist and began volunteering with the High School ministry at Glendale Presbyterian Church. At that point, Angela recognized that God was calling her into full-time ministry, so she quit her job to attend Fuller Theological Seminary.

Angela earned her Masters of Divinity and completed all of the requirements for Ordination in the PC(USA), including a chaplaincy internship at Legacy Emanuel Hospital, which is what brought her to Portland- “I fell in love with this city after spending a summer here. So, I moved to Portland in June of ‘06 with no job, just a sense that God wanted me here.”

“One of my favorite stories of Jesus is in Mark 2, when the four men come carrying their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing. Upon finding the house too crowded to reach him, they heft their friend onto the roof, dig through it and proceed to lower their friend to Jesus’ feet. This is amazing to me! What persistence, what love, what faith these friends possess! And Jesus recognizes it too. I love that God puts us in community so that we can carry one another and be carried when we can’t walk to Jesus’ feet ourselves. It’s a gift to share life with others.”

For fun, Angela likes to be active with her friends, travel (especially to Southern California to see family and friends), read, watch movies, follow the NBA, watch NCIS on Tuesdays, play on Facebook, and sing.

The Sherwood Presbyterian youth group (middle school and high school), called RISC (for Reaching Individuals Seeking Christ) currently meets at on Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30 pm. Discussions of God's grace, Christ's sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit's presence provide the youth with a supportive foundation as they begin their own Christian journey.

For more information, please email Angela or call her at 503-925-8175.

Nicole Wells became our worship director in June 2009. She was born in California in the 70's but was raised here in the Portland/Metro area since 1989. She is returning from Klamath Falls, OR where she has lived for the last 3 1/2 years with her children and husband of 12 years.

On the fun side, Nicole likes to spend time watching her sons grow and be creative with their constant construction of contraptions, and expression of music. She enjoys family activities, dates with her husband, anything surrounding coffee and conversation, journaling, reading, playing gigs with her sister, singing with her family, and watching gymnastics when it's on (she is a closet gymnast).

Nicole and her husband Steve met at Warner Pacific College in Portland, where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Music Theory and Composition in 1998. They moved shortly after receiving their degrees to St. Helens, OR as Music and Youth ministers. Their sons, Chandler (8 yrs. old) and Landon (6 yrs. old) were born during their 7 year residency there.

Nicole began her musical upbringing at a very early age, singing with her family's traveling ensemble at the age of 2 to various churches, camps, retreats and events across the country. She began songwriting at age 9 and apprenticed under her mother as a piano teacher at age 12. She began her own private piano studio at age 15. Currently, she teaches both piano, violin, and song construction (or composition).

Nicole has enjoyed the privilege of leading worship for many years. She says, "There is truly nothing more magnificent than when God's people join together in praise and adoration, with sincere hearts glorifying Him, expressing with enthusiasm the hope that they have, worshiping in spirit and in truth, with repentant and thankful hearts. It is a humbling position to be able to answer the call to prompt worshipers and lead them to the throne. Thank you for the privilege of being your worship leader here at Sherwood Presbyterian Church. I look forward to the blessing of being a part of this body."

Nicole can be reached by email or you can call her at 503-925-8175.

Karen Sesnon joined our staff as a Ministry Assistant in September 2008.

Karen and her husband Bob are Tigard residents and have 6 grown children. Karen grew up in Southern California and attended Long Beach State and Chico State. Chico was her home for 28 years, where she worked as a Children's Ministry director for two churches, in adult development and training, and as office manager of an Episcopal Church, while raising her family.

In 2006 she and Bob and daughter Haley moved to Oregon. Through her work as a pastoral assistant at Lake Grove Presbyterian Church she learned of Sherwood Presbyterian Church and during the summer of 2007 they came for a first visit. The sense of community here caught their attention. They returned for a "second look" in 2008 and have been blessed with a sure sense of place here.

Karen and Bob fill their spare time with home remodeling projects, travel whenever possible and enjoy cooking and entertaining friends. They have quickly become fans of the Portland Trail Blazers and of the Pacific Northwets in general!

They appreciate the vitality of the people here, the steadfastness of purpose as communicated by Pastor Len and the elders, and the sense that this is a community following God where they will be safe, be used by Him, and will grow in fellowship and faith.

Of her position as a staff member Karen says that she is “grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Len, Angela Nicole, and the many volunteers all of whom are passionate about making a difference in the lives of others”. Her vision is for the church office to become the hub in a wheel with many divergent spokes, all with the same mission, that of leading unchurched people into Christ-centered community and beyond, offering support to those ministries and creating a network of information and relationships.

Karen can be reached by email or you can call her at 503-925-8175 or find her on Facebook!